But this being of no use, I rose and told the guide that we must go back to the spot he had before chosen. The men feeling rather ashamed of themselves, got up with more alacrity, and we faced the difficulty, commencing the ascent at two p.m., but did not reach the summit till six p.m., and yet we worked as hard as we possibly could, hoping to get down to the banks of a running stream. These were evidently the Paya Paya, or the “very difficult” hills. For several hundred yards we moved up a narrow spur, about five feet broad generally, but occasionally narrowing to a single foot, so steep that we had to place our rifles and guns before us as far as we could reach, and then pull ourselves up to them. The sun went down before we stopped for the night. There was no water, but there was a prospect of heavy rain, and strong puffs of wind, as black clouds were gathering to the north-east. It was seven o’clock before I got my tent pitched on a ridge not three feet broad; and then, there being nothing to eat or drink, we lay down and slept on our weariness. Fortunately for me, I had managed to dry my Scotch plaid during our stay for breakfast; and, wrapping myself up in that best of all companions, I did not feel the cutting winds. I awoke for a few minutes in the middle of the night, to find that the cold had driven the men to light a fire; but before I could distinctly distinguish any one I was off to sleep again, and did not wake till the sun shone on my face. Yesterday satisfied me that I was in excellent condition to endure fatigue, as, though I had not drunk any water since breakfast, I felt no thirst. _8th._--Being excessively hungry, I determined to have the remaining fowl, a mere chicken, for breakfast. I thought we deserved it, having had nothing to eat for dinner, so it was killed before we started. An hour’s walk brought us to the end of the mountain ridge, and gave us a fine view of the country. There was Molu with its highest peak bearing west by south, proving that the western peak, under which we were last February, is not the loftiest. It appeared to me that we had clearly passed the greatest difficulties as regards country; it was now more open, the hills drawing back farther from the banks of the river, which wound at our feet some three thousand feet below. I now knew from the bearings that we were north of our boats; they lay as nearly as possible between us and Molu. I therefore proposed to the men that we should abandon the main stream and push due west, straight for the Madihit; but they had no faith in compasses, and seeing a mountain range nearly as high as the one we were on between us and what I affirmed to be the Madihit, they said they preferred keeping to the banks of the Limbang, which now appeared to be less difficult.